I Won't Let You Drown
by UKPJOFan
Summary: "Do you want to join in our lesson?" Mathew butted in, looking extremely excited at his idea, "I'm sure Mr. Jackson won't mind you joining in!" Thinking that nothing could be more mortifying than joining in a swimming lesson that is taught by none other than her secret crush Annabeth shook her head. OR Percy is a swim teacher who makes Annabeth forget about her fear of Water.


**Disclaimer: All character rights to Rick Riordan**

**AU and slightly OOC Annabeth  
**

**Warning: Rated T for Language**

**I won't let you drown**

Annabeth was having a particularly shitty day.

First her car won't start in the morning so she has to share with her neighbor, the nice but _far_ too girly Silena, who won't shut up about what brand of make-up she was wearing today. Seriously can life get worse? With Silenas next sentence she instantly knows it can.

"I know who you've got a crush on"

Annabeth nearly chokes on her early morning coffee as she spins round to look at her because _no, she can't know, she still hasn't entirely decided herself and she definitely hasn't told anyone._

After recovering from her coughing fit she managers to stammer out a,

"What?"

Silena smirks as she looks back to the road. "Lets just say I saw how you where looking at him at Jasons party."

Quite how she deduced _that_ from Jasons party Annabeth couldn't guess. She only saw _him_ for about 5 minutes and she had barley had time to work out her own feelings in the three weeks since she was dragged their by Piper, how the hell could Silena work that out from a 5 minute conversation.

Thinking about it, it might not have been the 5-minute conversation, more the 2 hours of sneaky glances that followed. It was then that Annabeth decided she hated Silenas obsession with relationships far more than her girly tendencies. When they get to school Annabeth escapes the car so quickly she barley has a chance to say bye to Silenas annoying, still smirking face.

One thought fills her mind as she slumps into her seat in homeroom. _Never Again._

**. . . .**

Her day went from bad to worse when she walks into English only to discover that she had left her folder with the essay she had been slaving over for absolute weeks in the Library. Being somewhat of a nerd comes in handy at these times as her teacher waved her off to go fetch it with only a slightly disapproving look. For Mrs. Wright that was the closest to an approving smile you can ever get so I rolled with it. Desperately hoping that no one else had picked it up she rushed through the corridors making it to the Library in record time.

The sense of extreme panic that built up in her chest when she saw her file was no longer sitting on the table she had been studying at barely 5 minutes before died as she turned and saw the smiling face of the librarian folder in hand behind her desk. Whispering a hurried thank you she turned around and rushed back to her English classroom arriving barley a minute after the late bell rang, and so the torture of double English began.

Annabeth may like school but today had to be one of the few occasions where she really couldn't be bothered with it. She shocked herself, when the jock from the back row moaned about how they would 'never use "the reasons behind Cathy's Insanity in Wuthering Heights" in their lives' she found herself agreeing. Wuthering Heights was one of the few books that even she struggled to get through and she would read just about anything, reading her History textbook for fun had proved that, but Wuthering Heights she didn't care about. She would be happy when they where done and they could finally move into something interesting in this stu-

A ball of paper hitting the back of her head cut her off. Glancing round she saw Octavian Delphi grinning at her creepily. She shook her head and turned around trying not to get disturbed by the fact that she had _seriously_ been trying to convey that she wasn't interested for the past 6 months and he _still hadn't got the message._

As Mrs. Wright finally called the lesson to a close and dismissed us, asking us to leave our essays on her desk I sighed in relief. Finally the brief freedom of lunch just as soon as she handed in her – Annabeth looked at her folder horrified.

Her essay wasn't there.

How couldn't it be there? She had left it there only two hours ago after she had put the finishing touches on it during break. Her breath quickened as she realised what was happening. She'd never turned in an assignment late, never. And her senior year was seriously not the time to break that habit. But it was happening, she had no essay.

It was gone.

**. . . .**

She got out of the situation with an hours afterschool detention the following day. For Mrs. Wright that was lenient, but that didn't stop Annabeth fuming.

Her perfect record was gone, and she knew how.

As she turned to leave the room she saw the essay on the top of the pile.

It was her essay.

It had Octavians name on it.

He was going to die.

**. . . .**

By the time she got home she was almost expecting something to come and mess up her meticulously planned afterschool plans and low and behold this arrived in a letter left on the kitchen counter.

_Annabeth_

_Helen and I have to go to a work function today at 5 so won't be coming home, can you pick up Mathew and Bobby from their friends and take them to the pool for their swimming lesson._

_You can order Pizza or something afterwards for Dinner._

_Thanks_

_Dad_

Typical. No 'Love You', no ' sorry for the inconvenience', just a demand to take them to a lesson that you never bothered to pay for when she was there age. No doubts about the favorite children in this family then.

She froze when she realised what he was asking her to do.

She had to go there, she hated swimming.

She would have to see him.

He was their swim teacher; it would be completely impossible not to see him.

Lady Luck had really decided to desert her today.

**. . . .**

"Annnnnnabetthh" Bobby wined, "Will you go swimming with us today after our lesson.

I sighed knowing the answer I had to give "No Bobby you know I can't"

"But Jacobs big sister goes with them all the time"

"Well she knows how to swim, and I don't so that's the end of it"

"Do you want to join in our lesson?" Mathew butted in, looking extremely excited at his idea, "I'm sure Mr. Jackson won't mind you joining in!"

Thinking that nothing could be more mortifying than joining in a swimming lesson that is taught by none other than her secret crush Annabeth shook her head. "No I won't be allowed to join in Mathew, now hurry up and get changed I'll go say you're here"

I turned round and walked up to the desk. "Hi" She said to the extremely bored looking women sitting across the counter "I'm just here to drop Mathew and Bobby off for their lesson, I'll wait up in the stands.

"You've never brought them before have you?" she asked.

"No I haven't"

"Well you will have to wait and talk to the teacher before the lesson, it's the centers policy."

Annabeths cheeks instantly turned pink, this was not part of her plan. She did not want to talk to Percy, especially not today, with the way her luck was going she would say something irreversibly stupid, he would never be wanted to be seen with her again and she would grow old alone except for her 20 cats. Yep Annabeths _crush she wasn't sure she had _was a lot bigger than she had previously given it credit for.

Had the Annabeth from any other point of her 17 years of life seen what she did next they would have almost certainly slapped her and ranted about how she should be an independent woman and be happy within her own body, however they weren't there so did not see how Annabeth immediately reached for her pocket mirror that had previously seen the light of day a grand total of once and tried to immediately fix her hair from the messy ponytail that it was currently in to something that could look vaguely attractive to someone of the opposite sex. She was so focused on her task she didn't notice they man that walked up next too her.

"Now I'm sure I've seen you before"

Annabeth looked up and squeaked as she met a pair of sea green eyes. Blushing at the sound she just made she nodded before managing to stammer out a reply.

"Ye-Yes we met at Jasons party"

The man nodded, "I thought so, you're Mathew and Bobbys sister right, Annabeth"

She just nodded while her stomach did cartwheels because _he remembered her name._

"So the lesson only lasts for a hour, most of the parents leave during it but your more than welcome to wait in the stands, just don't shout down and distract the kids, I don't really see that being a problem with you though" he said giving her a shy smile.

"That'll be fine" Annabeth replied finally managing to calm down as she returned his smile with one of my own.

Seeing this his face split into a lopsided grin that had troublemaker written all over it.

"I'll see you after the lesson then". He turned and left with a wink.

Annabeth stood there frozen. What did that wink mean? Was he flirting? No. He would never flit with her. But then again he also said he would see her later. "He means to pick up your brothers" the logical side of her brain argued but as was happening more and more often when she though of Percy the emotional side decided to pipe up, "What if he just meant to see you?"

Dragging herself out of her internal argument Annabeth turned and walked up into the pool stands. She had received some horrific trigonometry homework in Math earlier that day and now was a better time than ever to get a start on it.

After 20 minutes in which she only managed to complete two questions she gave up on the task. There where far too many noises and distractions in the room to allow her to properly concentrate. The primary distraction being a certain green-eyed boy who was patrolling the poolside directly across from her, she couldn't help but admire the focus that he had when observing his pupils strokes before shouting out instructions and ways to correct them. He really was a brilliant teacher. She hadn't realised she'd been staring at him until he looked up and glanced her way. A smirk passed over his face as he saw her before he looked back at the pool.

Annabeth just wanted to die on the spot. Surely this had to be the worse thing yet to happen in this monumentally awful day. Percy had caught her checking him out. Face burning red she hid behind her trig textbook and wished she could just sink through the floor. _Their goes any chance with a conversation with him after the lesson_. She glance back at the pool again to see him staring up at her, he quickly averted his gaze a blush adorning his cheeks. Smiling slightly to herself Annabeth returned to her work.

At least she wasn't the only one caught staring.

**. . . .**

When the lesson finished Annabeth quickly packed up her stuff and headed down the steps, determined to get to the front desk as quickly as possible. When she reached the poolside however she saw a mop of dirty blonde hair that made her stop in her tracks. He was here and she was going to kill him.

"Octavian" she said in a deadly calm voice, he whirled around, looking terrified when he saw the expression on her face. "What. The. Hell. Where you doing stealing my essay!" Her voice grew louder with every word as she stepped towards Octavian. He started to back away drawing them closer to the pool.

"What even made you come up with such a stupid idea!" She was shouting now and a look of pure panic was in his eyes. Annabeth raised her hand to slap him and he instinctively pushed her backwards. Annabeth felt the floor beneath her vanish and barley had time to panic before her head hit something solid and she was surrounded by cold water. The last thing she remembered was the sound of a whistle and the dark shape of someone sweeping through the water.

**. . . .**

Annabeth woke up with sea green eyes inches from her own, their lips centimeters apart. _Why was he kissing her? _

"She's awake!" Someone proclaimed from behind her, and it was then that she noticed she was soaked and lying on the poolside. Percy pulled away looking relieved and she tried not to feel disappointed that he was only making sure that she could breathe and not kissing her.

"You gave us a real fright there," he said, trying to sound jokey but his eyes told the real story, he had been terrified.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked, "The last thing I remember is falling in the pool and then-"

"You hit your head on the lane dividers" Percy explained, offering her his hand to help her stand up, she took it gratefully, "that's why you couldn't just swim back up, I was walking past just before he pushed you so I jumped in and pulled you out" he finished with a slight smile.

Blushing she murmured a small "thanks" before saying "I couldn't of swam out even if I didn't hit my head, I can't swim."

Percy stopped dead staring at her. She averted her eyes not wanting to see the disappointment she was sure would be in his. "I would have never guessed," he whispered quietly before shaking his head and grabbing hold of her arm.

"Did you know that there is a teacher here that would be more than willing to give you private lessons?" he said, a slight grin on his face.

Annabeth looked up at him shocked, "and who would that be?"

"Why me of course, come on I'll sort out the details when we fill out the incident form"

20 incredibly boring minutes later a completed incident from sat completed behind the main reception desk, Annabeths two brother stood impatiently behind her as they said goodbye to Percy.

"So we'll meet tomorrow outside the main doors at 9 then" Percy said grinning at me."

"Yes, if you're sure its no trouble" Annabeth replied with a nervous smile.

"Of course its not, I'll look forward to it, see you then, and see you next week Mathew and Bobby" he said looking over her shoulder at the two boys before walking back to the pool with a little wave. As the three of them walked home she started to come out of her state of shock. She was going to be alone for an hour with Percy Jackson. _Help!_

**. . . .**

The next day dragged on for what felt like years but when she finally got out of Mrs Wrights detention and dragged herself home she had barely 30 minutes to get to the local pool on time. Grabbing a bag she stuffed a swimming costume and towel inside and rushed off determined not to be late.

She arrived at the pool at five to nine to find it shut. Trusting Percy to know what he was doing she sat down on the wall and waited. 20 minutes later and with there still no sign of Percy she sighed and picked her bag up. _Shouldn't be surprised really. Something like this was bound to happen._ Annabeth stood up and turned to leave.

She had barely walked two steps however when someone came running up behind her.

"Thank God you're still here," Percy wheezed as he hunched next to her hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "I'm so sorry I'm late, my mum was late finishing work and I had to wait until she came home before I could leave because otherwise there would be no one to look after Tyson and he's only 5 so I cant lea-"

"Its fine Percy, what I'm more bothered with is the fact that the pool isn't open" Annabeth interrupted his rambling with raised eyebrows.

"I've got the key so that's fine" he replied taking the key out of his pocket.

"Are you allowed to do that?" Annabeth asked worriedly as he turned the key in the front door lock.

"Of course I am, my dad owns the place" He replied opening the door for her with a smile.

Annabeth hid her shock behind a smile of her own as she walked passed him. "Good, so you're not as much of a Seaweed Brain as I thought then."

"Seaweed Brain?"

"Yeah," Annabeth blushed, "because you're so obsessed with the water and there's not much that goes on up there."

Percy looked into her face for a while before his face broke into its signature lopsided grin "I can see your point, now go get changed I'll see you in the pool".

**. . . .**

Trying to get changed in the pitch-black girls changing rooms was not the best experience Annabeth had ever had in her life, but she managed to stumble into the pool without any major incidents, which she considered a success. The sight of a shirtless Percy waiting for her however nearly made her nearly collapse and fall in the pool again, averting her gaze from his perfectly toned abs _when on earth did she turn into such a girl _she coughed and said "what are we going to do first then."

Annabeth was delighted by the end of the lesson . She had gone from not being able to even float in the water to being able to swim, abate incredibly messily a full width of the pool without help. Percy seemed almost as happy as he smiled at her.

"You're an incredibly quick learner you know" he said looking down at her from where they stood in the pools shadows.

Annabeth smiled back at him, "I think it's more to do with you being a very good teacher."

He laughed "You know you are allowed to take a complement every now and then Wise Girl".

She frowned at him. "Wise Girl?"

His face flushed to a colour a fire engine would be proud of as he averted his gaze. "You where reading a math book when you where here yesterday so I assumed you where smart".

"So you were looking at me yesterday then" Annabeth smirked.

"Only after you stared at me, it's only natural when you see a very attractive girl staring at you to look at her back."

Annabeth blushed an even deeper colour of red than Percy. "I'm not very attractive."

Percy moved closer to her. "You really are Annabeth, you're all I've been able to think about since Jason's party."

She stared into his eyes and saw nothing but sincerity in them, courage suddenly blossomed in her chest as she said "me too" and brought their lips together.

Kissing Percy was something that simply cannot be described, his lips tasted not only like the chlorine from the pool but where also slightly salty, it was like the taste of the sea. He raised his hands to cup her cheeks as she tangled hers in his hair. After a couple of minuets they broke apart, both breathing hard.

"Wow" he gasped looking down at her with a smile slowly stretching across his face.

Annabeth couldn't believe what she had just done this could ruin everything. She had moved to quickly and now she wouldn't even be able to get swimming lessons off him because they would just be too awkward. Why was she such an id-

"Hey," She glanced up at Percy who was looking at her nervously, "I wondered if you wanted to go get dinner with me after we leave?"

"Yes" Annabeth replied almost too quickly, but the smile that split Percy's face made her forget about it.

"Great!" he almost yelled before leaning in to kiss her again. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the pool. Annabeth smiled, wondering why she had ever been scared of swimming, she had Percy to make sure she never drowned.

Fin

**A/N**

**Well that is by far the longest thing I have ever written, for my first one shot I think its pretty decent. I was really struggling with writers block for Chapter 10 of Evacuated so this came out as a result. Its typical that I created the Empty Seat for that purpose and then the scenario that I have the most inspiration for doesn't fit in that universe.**

**Evacuated CH 10 has been over half written, I don't really like it but I have to get through that chapter before I can get to the Juicy stuff that is happening in the following chapters so hopefully I can get that up soon.**

**I'm on my Easter holidays now so hopefully will get that chapter up and a new chapter for the Empty Seat up before I go back to school in 1 and a half weeks but I won't make any promises about it.**

**Please Review people, it really does inspire me,**

**Until next time,**

**UKPJOFan **


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